Gaming systems have evolved from those which provided an isolated gaming experience to networked systems providing a rich, interactive experience which may be shared in real time between friends and other gamers. With Microsoft's Xbox® video game system and Xbox Live® online game service, users can now easily communicate with each other while playing to share the gaming experience. Moreover, when not playing in tandem, current gaming systems allow friends to track others' gaming experiences and accomplishments.
One way in which users track their and their friends' progress through different games is through the concept of game scores and achievements. As gamers progress through a game and complete game-specific challenges, such as getting to a new level or amassing a specified number of wins against other players, the Xbox Live service keeps track of these achievements for Xbox Live service subscribers. Where once a gamer's achievements were only seen by him or her, gamers are now able to see the current progress and achievements of others, either while logged on to the Xbox Live service via an Xbox game console or online. Thus, achievements have become a highly visible measure associated with users, and the keeping and posting of achievement data has evolved into a strong selling point for the Xbox platform and games. Friends and users now compete with each other for the most achievements and new achievements.
Another innovation in current gaming systems is the ability to quickly and easily download games. For example, Microsoft introduced a gaming disc known as Microsoft Arcade which is able to connect to a server through the Internet when the gaming console is connected to the Internet. From the server site, the Arcade gaming disc is able to enumerate full version games which are available for download to the user's hard disc drive on the XBox console. In the past, when a user learned of a game through a friend or otherwise, the user either had to go to a store to purchase the game media, or have the media delivered after an online purchase. With the passage of time and difficulty involved in the purchase, users often lost interest and did not follow through with the purchase. However, platforms such as Microsoft Arcade allow users to obtain games as soon as they learn about them.
While achievement scores have increased interest and sales in gaming platforms, conventional systems have no easy way of providing a comprehensive view of a user's achievements for a particular game. In conventional gaming systems, a user may access achievements through a system graphical user interface (GUI), which then provides a menu system allowing a user to drill down into particular achievements. However, there is no single screen providing a comprehensive view of a user's achievements. A user may access individual achievements, and even when accessing a particular achievement, a user still is required to drill down into successive additional screens to find out all information regarding that achievement. As such, there is room for an improved system which provides a user a comprehensive view of all of the achievement data for a game in a single, easy to use and efficient GUI.